Afraid of Being Alive (Shane Walsh Love Story)

Chapter 2: Ladder-Boy

Chapter 2: Ladder-Boy

“So what brings you to Atlanta?” I asked as I cut the ham and cheese sandwiches into halves so that everybody got half a sandwich. We had to manage our food the best we could and we had guests over, so this was as much as anyone was getting today “do you have any idea how dangerous this city is?”

“Then why are you staying here?” asked Rick as I passed him his plate of food.

“Because we have food, a bit of electricity which is exclusive to the fridge, furniture, weapons and this is our home” I replied “besides, where else would we go?”

“Good point” mumbled Shane as Lola handed him his food.

I picked up my own plate and brought it to the table, biting into the sandwich and making sure I never took one bite for granted.

“So anyway, you never answered my question” I said again, sparking up the topic which I so longed to discuss.

“We’re in Atlanta for supplies” chuckled Shane “we were on our way to get ‘em until we got herded by Walkers”

“And if it weren’t for you two, we’d be the meat in this sandwich” smirked Rick.

“Thanks, but even cannibalism isn’t viable in times like these” I laughed softly as I took another bite from the sandwich.

“Well I don’t know how many more supplies you’ll find in this part of Atlanta” stifled Lola “people cleared this place out pretty good when they fled and most of it was taken to the so called safe-haven so there ain’t much left”

“Shame, our group could use a little  more shit” frowned Rick.

“Group?” I asked as I finished off my sandwich, everybody else not too far behind with their own “You’ve got a group?”

“Yeah, on the outskirts of Atlanta out of the city” replied Rick.

“It’s not too far, but it ain’t walking distance that’s for sure” smirked Shane.

The men then proceeded to ask Lola and I questions about ourselves, where we came from and what we did, how old we were and if we had family. They asked how we took care of the place and how we were still alive in all this chaos. I was reluctant to answer many of these questions due to the fact that I didn’t know these guys and I didn’t know what their deal was. I didn’t know much about them either so I felt it only fair to turn the conversation onto the two men the same way that they had done to me. By the time we had finished talking, eating and the dishes were done, the sky had grown dark and it was time to put the candles on. We did have electricity, but as previously stated, it was exclusive to the fridge. The rest we could go without because we were powered on a generator. It’s not easy to salvage for food, so we didn’t want our hard work paying off with rotting food. We had some stuff in the freezer but we were running low as when the outbreak had begun, we weren’t sure how to properly manage our food. Also, before the apocalypse we were both lazy shits, so grocery shopping wasn’t on the top of our to-do list. If we were hungry, that was never a problem. There was a sushi place right across the road and a Macdonalds literally one block away. I guess we were paying the price for that now.

“Fucking hell, look at the time” said Rick, exasperated “shit Shane, we gotta get back to Lori and… and Carl… and the rest of the group I-”

“No way! Are you suicidal or something?” I hissed “it’s not safe out after dark”

“It’s not safe regularly either” argued Rick “Lori’s probably think we’re dead, Shane, we have to go!”